Today in History

Today is Wednesday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2003. There are 273 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy."

On this date:

In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida.

In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.

In 1805, storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark.

In 1860, the first Italian Parliament met at Turin.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.

In 1872, Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, died in New York.

In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and Dr. John F. Condon turned over $50,000 in ransom to an unidentified man in a New York City cemetery in exchange for Lindbergh's kidnapped son. (The child, however, was not returned, and was found dead the following month.)

In 1974, French President Georges Pompidou died in Paris.

In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.)

In 1992, mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life in prison.

Ten years ago: The Bosnian Serb parliament rejected a peace plan drafted by U.N. and European mediators and already approved by Bosnian Muslims and Croats. President Clinton presided at a daylong conference in Portland, Ore., on how much logging should be allowed on federal land.

Five years ago: Shaking their fists in rage, thousands of mourners marched in a funeral procession in the West Bank for a top Hamas bombmaker (Mohiyedine Sharif) hailed by Palestinians as a martyr and condemned by Israel as a terrorist.

One year ago: Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, where they began a 39-day standoff.